I’ll be speaking Tuesday April 13 at 7 pm at the George Hail Library in Warren, RI, on paranormal writing.   http://www.georgehail.org/

I’ll also be the speaker at the 25th Mid-Michigan Retreat From Reality April 16-18.  http://midmichiganrwa.org/retreat.html

I know I’ve been MIA — blame it on the flu!  But I wanted to post info about my upcoming class next week:

Traveling to Wales — Dragons, Castles, and Books

* Presented by our resident globetrotter Jo Ann Ferguson

* Class Dates: February 1st thru February 14, 2010

* Fee  $15 for Non-Beau Monde Members & $10 for Members

Wales proudly claims to have more castles per square mile than any other country.  Those castles range from the Stone Age to the Victorian era…and some

of them are connected with the legends surrounding Merlin. Did someone mention dragons? How about music? The industrial revolution?

Medieval resistance armies? A prince who sailed to North America before Columbus? The first and best book town?

Find out about Wales, a charming land with ancient traditions, surrounded on three sides by the sea. In the many small towns, a traveler can visit buildings

that weren’t “victorianized”, losing what our Regency characters would have encountered. Whether you write Regencies or medievals, Wales offers beautiful settings and fascinating history. And did I mention that book town???

Sign up at: http://www.thebeaumonde.com/academe/

Yellow Rose Romance Writers is pleased to announce our November/December
workshop! All workshops are $15 for Yellow Rose members and $25 for
non-Yellow Rose members.

Starting November 30, Jo Ann Ferguson will present Physics of Time Travel.
This is a 2-week course. To register, go to
http://www.yellowroserwa.com/workshops.php
<http://www.yellowroserwa.com/workshops.php> and fill in the form. We accept
PayPal and check/money order. Registration deadline is November 29, 2009.

Physics of Time Travel

By Jo Ann Ferguson

November 30 - December 11

Readers love time travel stories. There’s nothing quite as romantic as two
lovers separated by centuries who find each other. But readers also expect
the stories to have a plausibility about them - a logical way to suspend
belief in the impossible. Learn some basics about “real” time travel (from
a non-physicist) and some ways to make readers come along on the
extraordinary journey with your characters. The two-week discussion will
provide examples from television, the movies, and novels.

About Jo Ann Ferguson:
Award-winning author Jo Ann Ferguson has a split writing personality. Jo Ann
Ferguson launched the new Regency line at ImaJinn (where her next book will
Gentleman’s Master, the next book in her popular Regency mysteries) as well
as being the author of best-selling historicals. J.A. Ferguson writes
paranormals for ImaJinn. Jocelyn Kelley’s next book is Sea Wraith, coming
this month. Jo Ann Brown novelized Thomas Kinkade’s The Christmas Cottage,
a movie starring Peter O’Toole that was released on DVD in November 2008.
Her 80+ titles are also published by Tudor, Ballantine, Zebra, Harper,
Warner, and Thorndike. The books have been translated into almost a dozen
languages and sold on every continent except Antarctica.

Jo Ann served as RWA’s president (1998-2000) and recently celebrated the
20th anniversary of her first pub in 2008. She has taught creative writing
for 17 years, including establishing courses in romance and sci fi/fantasy
writing at Brown University. Her websites are www.joannferguson.com and
www.jocelynkelley.com She also blogs at www.jocelynkelley.com/blog

Cue the Twilight Zone music.
Imagine, if you will, you are coming out of a grocery store.  You are pushing your cart and scanning the parking lot as you try to remember where you parked your car.
Suddenly a woman grabs your arm.  She cries out that she’s been followed by a stalker.  Can you help her?  From around the corner, a man appears.  He’s carrying what looks like a gun, and, you can tell by the way he’s looking over his shoulder, he’s being chased.  He shouts to the woman to run, that he’s not sure how much longer he can hold off the person pursuing him.  He grabs her arm and pulls her after him.  Blood is streaming down his sleeve.
***
Got the scene in your mind?  Okay, what did you notice first about the woman?  What did you notice first about the man?  What emotions swelled up in you at the thought you could be shot by either the man with the gun or the person coming after him and the woman?
You did notice the sex of the people involved.  You did notice the gun.  You did notice the tone of their voices and the fear on their faces.  You saw the man’s bloody sleeve.
But I bet you didn’t stop long enough to take a full appraisal of the two people.  You paid no attention to her chestnut hair pulled back in a ponytail or the way his denims fit his butt so well.  You don’t know why they are here in your grocery store parking lot.  You don’t know what events led up to this moment.  You don’t know their hopes (other than to escape) and goals.  You don’t know their favorite flavor of ice cream. . .unless one snatches that half gallon out of your shopping bag.  You don’t know anything about their families and friends.  You don’t even know if they are the good guys or the bad guys.
You did see their fear and the blood.
And that’s what you need to bring into the opening of your book.  You want to draw your reader in so quickly she’s already on page 10 by the time she dares to take a breath.  Put your characters into the middle of terrible trouble, which can be physical, as in this example, or emotional.  The heroine standing in her room waiting to marry the evil man who’s foreclosing on the ranch is a cliche simply because it works so well.  The reader is caught up in her emotional turmoil – does she marry Snidely Whiplash or does she believe that Dudley Do-Right will arrive in time to save the day?
But, I can hear you say, how can my readers connect with my characters if they don’t know more about their background, their appearance, and their goals, motivations, and conflicts?
First, trust your reader.  If you’ve started your characters at point where they’re in the midst of trouble that is going to require them to risk something physically or emotionally, then the reader is going to connect to them right away.  All of us have faced such circumstances, although most of us – I hope – haven’t been chased by a madman through a grocery store parking lot.
Play fair with the reader.  Have the first female character introduced (through her point of view) be the heroine.  The same rule holds if you start with the hero’s POV.  If you begin with the heroine, the first good-looking, take your breath away guy who shows up in the book had better be the hero.  I’ve judged contest entries where the heroine is the POV character, and a great guy wanders in to chat with her – but he’s not the hero.  That’s very confusing to the reader, who’s already committed herself to seeing how the heroine and that guy are going to work out their “happy ever after”.
You can give quick descriptions of the non-POV character by focusing on things that move the scene along.  Assuming it’s the heroine’s POV at the start, you can mention his rough hand gripping her arm with a strength that matches his muscles.  Or blood could be seeping through his blond hair and dripping on his broad shoulders.  Or she feels a bit more protected because she’s seen that he shoots with the skill of Hans Solo.  Or she should have known better than to trust a handsome guy with a scar on his left cheek.  Just quick snapshot things, because people really don’t stop to take note of everything during a stressful situation.  If they did, witnesses wouldn’t disagree about what happened during an accident or a crime and what the perpetrator looked like.  But they sure all know how they feel about what they witnessed.  It’s that feeling that lures the reader into the story and has her cheering for the good guys.
Trust yourself and your story.  If you put your characters at a crisis point in their lives, you have to show the reader how they cope under such pressure.  You’re not telling the reader how the heroine has faced such challenges before and triumphed.  Who cares about what happened in the past when the heroine is fleeing with the bloodied hero from the bad guy?  All the characters (and the reader) want is for them to escape.  The reader wants them to have their “happy ever after” ending as well, but as she is engrossed in that opening scene, she will focus only on hoping they escape.
Later, when you’ve gotten them over that first bump on the sweet primrose path to love (don’t gag, okay? <g>), you’ll have a resting spot where you can give us more information on them and their background.  It’s at this point that you allow the secondary characters to have a bit more time “on-stage”.  This is where the friend/mother/sister (for heroine) or best buddy (for hero) come into play to provide a reflection for the main character to lay out their goals, motivations, and conflicts.  It’s called a reflection character because it keeps the POV character from talking to him/herself.
So hit the ground running either emotionally or physically and emotionally.  You need to have that emotional connection established right from the get-go in a romance.  Then your reader/editor will immediately become a part of the story and have a high stake in seeing how the characters resolve their differences, confront their fears, and reach their goals as they fall in love.

This is an article I wrote about 15 years ago, but the truth about the hero who has a touch of villainy in him remains timeless:

Once upon a time, it was easy to tell the bad guys from the good guys.  The bad guys wore black hats and wicked mustaches and tried to steal kisses (and the ranch) from the heroine.  The good guys wore white hats and had chaps that seemed to repel dirt and sang songs to their horses before riding off into the sunset.
Let me tell you – it ain’t that easy anymore, folks.  And thank goodness!  Our heroes don’t need to be all good – no more Clark Kent/Superman for us in every novel.
Recently the heroes that have populated my novels, as well as many other novels, would definitely need to wear a hat in some shade of grey.  I’ve begun to work more often with male protagonists who are neither hero nor villain but a combination of the two.  It’s a fine line to walk because the reader needs to fall in love with the hero, even if he evolves from dark and dangerous bad boy hero to just plain dangerous bad guy hero.  The secret of doing this is in one of the most basic tenets of writing – motivate, motivate, motivate.
When I am working on a historical, the easiest motivation for a bad guy hero is upholding honor.  The legends of King Arthur and his knights of the Round Table along with Chansons de Roland and Sir Walter Scott’s novels have painted us a picture of chivalry that’s very loosely based on historical fact.  The knight, sans peur and with a heart of gold who is willing to die for his lady faire, is a well-established tenet of this romantic period.  Yet, when I begin to work on a historical novel, one of the first things that comes into my head is the song from the Broadway show Camelot – “Fie on Goodness”.  The knights of the Round Table have discovered that a life based on only virtue is not only boring, but downright impossible.
So I gave my hero a hefty dose of that non-goodness (if that’s not a word, it should be!) which should make him anything but boring.  What will a man do for honor and duty to country and family?  Can he do the wrong thing for the right reasons and still be a hero?
Rhys ap Cynan, the hero of Wake Not the Dragon, the 13th century medieval I wrote for Harper, considers the honor of his country of Wales and his clan more important than anything.  He deceives and drugs the heroine the first time they meet in order to protect his obligations.  He foments insurrection against the English king, twisting the heroine into his plans even though he knows it may break her heart.  Yet the reader – I hope – will fall in love with Rhys as my heroine Gizela does, because he holds his vows sacred.  She knows when he finally offers his love, he will be forever faithful to that pledge.  The strength of conviction can be a powerful aphrodisiac.
Honor is only one motivation.  I also like revenge as a motivation.  In Ride the Night Wind (also published by Harper), my 14th century hero, who rides the night as the mysterious Lynx, is a puzzle to the heroine.  Is he her savior or will he destroy everything she is trying to build?  He does do damage to her fief, but every action is motivated by his compelling desire for revenge against a man who has hurt his family…and may hurt the heroine.  Is Lynx less of a hero because he goes beyond the law – risking death or having his real identity outlawed, a very serious punishment in medieval England?  I think, rather, it makes him a more complex, realistic character, someone the reader can relate to (Haven’t we all wanted to get even with someone – even if it’s only the guy who cut us off in traffic?), and the reader will fall in love with.
It was with Under the Outlaw Moon, that I first discovered the hero/villain.  My hero was a sheriff who robs trains on the side and blackmails the heroine (who is a full-time train robber) into assisting him in his schemes.  His motivations are much the same as Lynx’s – an eye for an eye vengeance.  Good, basic motivation that can be developed into an intricate hero capable of doing what he must for his goals and the heroine.
I don’t suggest that a hero, even with the proper motivation, can rape and pillage and loot with abandon.  For example, I cannot imagine having a hero who would rape the heroine – or any other woman.  Remember a hero is always good at heart.  His methods might not be within the laws of his time and place, but he is trying to make things better…for his family, for his country, for those who depend on him.
That is an important facet of a bad guy hero.  He never commits his crimes or threatens to shatter the heroine’s heart to further himself in prestige and power.  He is selfless, willing to risk his good name and his life in order to right what he sees as a wrong.
Do these dark knights work only in historicals?  No, of course not, although that’s where I’ve had the most fun with them.  I have done paler versions of them in Regencies.  Ross Hogarth, the hero of The Wolfe Wager, risks breaking the heroine’s heart simply to ease his boredom at the end of a boring Season in London.  Yet at the same time, he chances falling in love with her.  The hero must always be willing to gamble something incredibly precious – in this case, his freedom as a bachelor, a not insignificant commodity in Regency England – or he falls over the line into becoming a true villain.
So toss the white hats into the trash, and look around in your creative subconscious for that hero who has more than a touch of villainy in him.  After all, the man who has risked everything and won your heroine’s heart and respect will be so much more interesting for your heroine to spend her “happily ever after” with…and satisfying for your reader.

When I ask my students to write a synopsis for the class, I always get the same complaints:  “How can I write a synopsis when I don’t know what the story will be?” and “If I write the synopsis first, I will lose all that wondrous spontaneity when I write the book.”
I understand these complaints.  I once thought the same way, but that was before I had a moment of epiphany and realized the truth of the following ten reasons to write the synopsis first:
10.  You write your synopsis while you are flush with the excitement of “the beginning.”  It’s always easier to write when you are enthralled with your characters and story rather than when you get mired in the realities of all the details of the story.
9.  You can see holes in your plot before you start writing.  Do you need more events for the length of your book?  Fewer?  Is there a subplot?
8.  You can see if there is a lack of conflict/motivation in your characters.  What are their goals?  Their fears?
7.  You will find it easier to keep the synopsis short — you won’t want to add all those wonderful scenes and characters you’ll discover as you write the book.  And we all hear from editors that they like short synopses, especially in slush pile submissions.
6.  You can focus on the through-line of the story without wandering off into irrelevant (to the synopsis) detail.  The through-line is the main plot.  If you don’t know how to determine what your story’s through-line is, read the back cover copy on books to see what other stories have as a through-line.
5.  You will be able to pitch it more easily to an editor even before the book is completed (this is for all of you who plan on taking an appointment with an editor or agent and already have completed one book but want to be able to have a back-up — just in case).
4.  You will be able to share the synopsis with your critiquing partner, so you can brainstorm any plot problems.  By reading it early in the process, you both are familiar with the important aspects of the story.
3.  You have a road map while you are writing.  It will keep you from getting lost or wasting time wandering down a “road” that won’t lead you to your conclusion.
2.  You want to be able to sell on a proposal (or just a synopsis) once you have sold your first book.  So you might as well start practicing now on how to write a synopsis early in the process.
And most importantly:
1.  You won’t have to write it later.

Voice is — to me at least — the most elusive aspect of writing.   It’s so easy to see another writer’s voice…or maybe I should say it’s easy to feel another writer’s voice.  It’s not so easy to see/feel my own.  I’ve spoken with other authors (both published and aspiring) who admit to the same.  Yes, it’s in the words we choose (or our character’s choose) to use in their dialogue and internal thought.  It’s the balance of narrative and dialogue.  It’s sentence structure — compound sentences or sentence fragments.  I know it’s all that and more, but I can’t see it in my own writing while I’m writing.  I can feel it at times, especially when the good writing fairy has come to call.  Other people have muses.  I have a good writing fairy.  She?  He?  Whoever stops by and inserts amazing phrases and bursts of characterization among the dreck I’ve written.  She?  He?  Whoever comes after I’ve left the computer to do its nightly back-up and puts that sentence or two in what I had considered worthy only of a massive revision.  When I go back and read the next morning, there it is — brilliance amongst the words that soon will be highlighted just before I hit the delete button.  And almost always those gifts from the good writing fairy focus on voice.  They provide the initimate insight into the character by having the character speak or act in a way I hadn’t imagined before.  Too bad they come so seldom.  The rest of the time I have to slog through the wordy paragraphs and the unnecessary scenes, but I’ve learned that it’s important for me to overwrite and overplot.  Only then can I go back and sculpt the story I want by slicing away everything that’s not needed, like the sculptor who creates a magnificient statue by cutting away everything that doesn’t look like his subject.  And when I get that story down to its bones and sinews, I can get a glimmer of my voice — from the words that I delete and the words I let stay.

I’d like to say that with each book the self-awareness of voice comes more readily.  It doesn’t.  When I go back and look at the finished product, I know that my traditional Regencies have a slightly different voice from my historicals and a very different voice from my contemporaries, but still each time, the voice is mine.  Too bad I can’t see it as I go along.  Or maybe it’s just as well that I don’t, because when I can’t hear my voice, I have to listen to my characters’ voices telling me their unique story.

Here’s info on the class I’m teaching:

I am pleased to present the first of our online classes for 2009.
Please join us in
Traveling Beyond the Tower of London and Hyde Park with Jo Ann Ferguson
Class Dates: March 30th to April 12th
Cost: $15 for Non-Members & $10 for Members

To register:http://www.thebeaumonde.com/academe/

Going to England and only seeing London is like coming to the US and
only seeing New York City. Yet many visitors never venture beyond
metropolitan London, because the very idea of driving gives them the
hives! And others don’t like the idea of a tour where they have to
come and go at each venue at a certain time. Here are tips on how to
wander about England and Wales on your own without getting lost (even
though getting lost can lead to exciting sites that may offer the
perfect setting for your next book).

Join us for a fun filled adventure into the English Countryside.

Class 1: Intro – Prepare before you go
Class 2: B&Bs – How to find good ones and what to expect
Class 3: Money – ATMs, charge cards, and what to do with tipping
Class 4: Trains – Tickets and vocabulary you need/where to find
schedules
Class 5: Driving – It’s not as scary as you think; rules of the
road
Class 6: Eating – A pub is not the same as a restaurant
Class 7: Visiting – English Heritage, National Trust, CADW
Class 8: Churches – How to visit and what to and what not to do
Class 9: Charity shops and shopping
Class 10: Trips within a trip – Flying within the UK or to the
Continent/wrap-up

Jo Ann Ferguson is an author of 80+ titles, wishes she had Rick
Steve’s or Samantha Brown’s job, but contents herself with being
the chief navigator and photographer when she and her husband visit the
UK. They have peeked into many distant corners and gotten as far off the
beaten one-track lane as they can to discover more about England and
Wales.

Any questions please feel free to contact me at academe@thebeaumonde.com
<mailto:academe@thebeaumonde.com>

Every writer dreams of jumping on a plane, flying off to the location of her work-in-progress, and soaking up the atmosphere.  We also imagine spending a day with the FBI or learning about some arcane art.  Then there are the time machines every historical writer would love to have.  Time machines are out of the question, but on-site research and picking the brains of experts are not. Opportunities exist everywhere, but a writer must be prepared to take advantage of them.
While I was writing Sea Wraith, the third book in my Nethercott Tales (as Jocelyn Kelley and coming in late spring from ImaJinn Forever Regency), it was obvious I was not going back to Regency Cornwall.  I would have to depend on books and the internet to help me learn about food and travel and the Cornish legends that play into the story.  I had my on-site research from a trip there a couple of years ago.  And I had a list of experts – people I’d met in person or via the Internet.  I’ve used experts often over the years.  Just look in the acknowledgments of my books, and you’ll see their names listed.  Experts on hawking and using a quarterstaff or archery.  I try to have more than one, because even experts disagree with each other.  But one thing seems universal: People like to talk about what they do, whether it’s work or a hobby.  And they’ll gladly tell you all you need to know and more…as long as you’ve done your homework, so they know you’re serious.
So how can you show that?  When I approached the research with experts, I was prepared with:
1)  Homework.  I go on the internet, and I read books.  I need to learn a basic vocabulary, so I understand the information given.  I have yet to meet someone who doesn’t enjoy talking about what interests them and sharing the information with others.  In addition, there are tours available from major police departments (Boston P.D. has a fabulous tour) and in museums you can often see things – and sometimes touch them – that “normal” folks don’t get to see and do.  After sitting in a hip bath at a historical house in Toronto, I have much more respect for those who used them!
2) Before I chat with the experts, I go through my synopsis and mark spots where that information would be used to move the story forward.  That shows me what I need to know.
3)  I write questions in a notebook, leaving plenty of space for the answers.   Sometimes the answers get written amidst other information, but the questions are there to remind me what I have to know by the time I leave the expert.
4) I offer to send a copy of the synopsis to some experts, so they can see what I am doing.  Others I simply tell that I’m a writer.  It depends on how often I’ve worked with that expert.
5) I ask if it’s okay to bring a camera.  If it is, I do.  With so much information coming at you, it’s easy to forget details.  The camera helps preserve it with still pictures and/or video clips.  Some digital cameras have sound built in as well.
6) Before I leave the expert, I confirm the spelling of their name/address/phone number/email address.  I ask if I can ask further questions later.  I tell them they’ll get an acknowledgment in the book – something else that pleases people.  I always send an autographed copy of the book when it is published.
I approach on-site research in a similar manner, but there are some differences:
1) Again I do my homework.  I’ll use our recent trip to Cornwall as an example.  Before we left, I printed out information on the sites I hoped to see.  Each night when we returned to the B&B, I went through the pages and selected our must-sees for the next day.
2) If you are renting a car, buy the AA Road Guide, available in petrol stations.  It will show you almost every road in the UK.  If you are going only to a few areas, get Ordnance maps.  They are so specific, you can see the buildings along each road.  There are similar maps available for most European countries.
3) Set goals for your trip after going through your synopsis/manuscript.  Make a list of the must-see items, but don’t set your schedule so tight that you can’t stop at an interesting spot you’d never heard of.  On our most recent trip, we went to Land’s End, and we discovered a stone circle just up the road as well as a Templar Church.  We took the time to visit both.  By the way, try to visit your book’s location in the off-season.  There will be fewer tourists, so you find it easier to imagine an older time.  Also the staff at sites have more time to answer a long list of questions – and share info you never thought of – when they don’t have lots of visitors to deal with.  We went to Land’s End (and the barrow that shows up in Sea Wraith) very late in the day.  The shops had closed, and there were only 2-3 other people there.  We could stand at the edge of the cliffs and just listen to the wind and the sea…as if it was still the desolate end of England in the early 19th century.
4) If you go to a historical site, buy the site’s booklet, even if you take pictures.  It’ll have information you may not have discovered – or forget.  Also rent the unit that allows you to hear the recorded tour.  They are free if you’ve bought an English Heritage pass (you can get them for various lengths of stay).
5) Figure how many pictures you’re going to take and then triple it (or more).  I have a digital camera which allows me to take pictures of every interesting detail.  Always be aware of what is more modern than your time frame.
6) Bring a “measuring tape” with you.  My measuring tape is my husband.  He is exactly 6 feet tall.  I tell him to stand next to doorways or windows or trees or hedges or whatever – and I can see how many “Bills” tall something is when I get home.
7) The British walk, and some of the most interesting sites are along public footpaths.  Just remember the rules – stay on the paths, close the gates behind you, and don’t bother the animals.  On one trip several years ago, we followed a footpath to an ancient hillfort and then continued up the hill in the rain and wind to find an Ordnance marker.  It was the first one we’d ever seen – so that was a treat, and the weather gave me a great scene for my book.  In other words, make sure you allow time for serendipity.

Eat where the locals eat.  On another trip, we went to a pub near St. Govan’s Head in southern Wales.  It was full, so we sat in close quarters with the other patrons.  We talked with a man who could have been a leprechaun from Central Casting.  I started asking questions about the weather at the nearby cliffs during April (when the finale of my wip at that time took place).  I soon was being regaled with stories and got information I never expected I’d find out.  Again, people love to share what they know.
9) Stay in your time period.  I mean that literally.  We’ve stayed in a Regency town house in Bath and in a 16th century farmhouse in Norfolk where the beam in the bedroom was so low, I had to duck under it!  (See it in a scene in Sea Wraith <g>)
10) Be prepared to be proved wrong.  Even if I’ve studied up on a location, it can look completely different when I get on-site.  I adjust my thinking – and my book – to fit reality.
11) Be prepared for Twilight Zone moments.  One of my goals on the trip to Wales was to find a setting for a specific event that is the centerpiece of the story.  It took place along a small river in the far west of Wales.  When we got out of the car in the car park for St. David’s Cathedral, I saw a small waterway.  I decided I was going to use this stream for the site, because none of the books I’d read had specified a site and neither had CADW (The Welsh version of English Heritage).  I took pictures, came home and was looking for another item in a book. . .and found the name of the river where my event took place.  Going to the map, I found it was the same stream I’d taken pictures of.  Cue the Twilight Zone theme. . .
12) Allow yourself time for “wow” moments.  Some I’ve planned ahead of time such as when I stood next to the 17th century memorial stone for my however many times great-grandfather in Norwich Cathedral.  Others have been a surprise – such as when we chance upon a site that was used in a favorite book or movie.  As always, we take a lot of pictures because who knows when I might use that “wow” fact in a book – or just want to revisit it after we get home.
And most importantly, have fun.  You might find the very fact will give you an idea for your next book!

This is a suggested format for writing a synopsis (which is also called an outline by some editors).  The process of writing a working synopsis is the same as writing a marketing synopsis.  With a working synopsis, the author is less interested in polish and more interested in finding out about the characters and plot points.  The marketing synopsis can (and usually does) come directly out of the working synopsis.

Write your synopsis in the present tense.  Double space it using standard manuscript format – 1″ margins, header with title/author’s last name and page #, approximately 25 lines/page, 60 spaces/line.

STEPS TO WRITING A WORKING SYNOPSIS:

1.  Start with your high concept or a short paragraph that could be the blurb on the back of your book or the short phrase on the front cover that catches a reader’s eye.  It should relate to the theme of your novel.  (Good conquers evil, the price of vengeance is death, etc.  Clichés are good to focus you on your theme)

2.  Protagonist should be described next.  Physical description isn’t necessary, unless it’s important to your story.  Instead think of the items we worked on during the first week of the class — what the characters want (their motivation), their fears, the things they like, what makes a character unique.  Also include items from the back story (a character’s history up until the beginning of the story) that will have relevance on the book.  Don’t do a biography on the character.  You just want to gain some insight into what makes this person tick, so you can work with him/her while writing.

3.  Repeat #2 if you have a second protagonist (romances would concentrate on the hero at this point, a mystery might include the investigator’s partner).  The conflict in the book may come out at this point, if the two characters have clashing goals and needs.

4.  Setting – Don’t worry about this unless it’s very important to the story.  Science fiction/fantasy writers would be concerned with this if they are setting their story in an alternate future/another planet.  Again, keep it short.  You can lengthen this later for your marketing synopsis.  This is just to solidify it in your mind.

5.  Opening of the story should come next.  You should now begin telling your story in chronological order, bringing in secondary characters and subplots as they appear.  The problem that will be solved at the end of the book should be introduced here.  Concentrate on pulling the protagonist’s motivation and the conflict through every paragraph.  This section will be the bulk of your synopsis.  It will allow you to see where there are “holes” in your plot and where you might want to put more tension into the story.

6.  The climax and the black moment –  when the protagonist faces his/her worst fears — should be clearly described.  All the motivation and conflict and tension in your book was leading to this point.  Keep your theme in mind as you write this.  This is where your reader should be certain of what you’re trying to say with this book.  Also here should be where the changes in the character (as a result of what’s happened in the book) should be visible.  Does the character still feel the way he/she did in the beginning?  If that’s true, you need to go back and slowly change some aspect of their character.  A story where the character doesn’t experience some emotional growth will get bounced off an editor’s desk immediately.

7.  The conclusion ties up all the threads of the story, whether it’s happy ever after or a tragedy.  Have the characters achieved their goals?  If not, have you altered them enough so the reader can understand why they no longer hunger for that goal?  Do we feel that they will continue past this point in the book as “real” people with “real” goals and needs?

When you have all this done, give it to someone (preferably another writer) to read before you start writing your book.  If you get back “But why. . .?” or “How. . .?”, you know you have some holes in your story that you have to deal with.  Look at those sections again and rework.  Go through the synopsis with a highlighter and mark “feeling” words, so you can see the growth of your characters.  You may discover one of your characters is changing in very different direction than you intended.  You want to create an emotional connection between yourself and your characters (and eventually between them and an editor) that will sustain you while you are writing.

Mark approximate chapter breaks.  This will give you a good idea if you are on target for what your market expects and a guess at approximate word length.  Also it shows you if your book is properly paced.  If you have long sections with no action or emotional growth, it’s time to rethink your synopsis.

This working synopsis is a road map for you while you’re writing.  You may find, as you write, that you want to wander down a side road.  Your synopsis will enable you to come back to the “straight and narrow” after your side trip.

JUST REMEMBER THAT NOTHING IN A SYNOPSIS IS CARVED IN STONE!!!

Be able to be flexible as you write your novel after you’ve put together your working synopsis.  If you don’t think you can allow yourself to deviate from the plot and characters you’ve set forth in your working synopsis, skip over this step in the process and write your marketing synopsis later.